Birds of a Feather
by QuimbyCub
Summary: TEAM FIC. SPOILERS FOR UP TO MALTESE FALCON SUM: No man left behind. Takes place after Maltese Falcon.
1. Eagle Eye

TITLE: Birds of a Feather Flock Together  
TEAM FIC  
SPOILERS FOR UP TO MALTESE FALCON  
No man left behind. Takes place after Maltese Falcon.

Chapter One: Eagle Eye

"Hey," Eliot was watching Nate out the window. "Hey!"

"What, man?" Hardison asked, he was half curled around Parker. "What are you yellin' about?"

"He's bleedin'." Eliot said, a little unsure. "Can you get any closer with this thing?" He shouted to the driver.

The driver tilted the chopper enough that The window got a look of the deck and the chaos on it. And, yes, there was Nate, the leader of the band of thieves, collapsed on the deck. Sophie's attention was caught by the angle not the conversation as she was lost in angry sad thoughts of her and Nathan. But the view of Nate pulled her back to the moment.

There he was, cuffed to the railing with one hand the other hand falling limply to the side, palm red with blood. Sterling, of all bastards, was ripping open Nate's shirt to revile a gunshot wound in lower abdomen. It didn't look _too_ bad but…

"Hardison?" Sophie started softly. "Tap into the cell phones, see which hospital there taking him to."

Hardison's eye widened, that wasn't going to be easy, nor would that lead to anything good, but he wasn't going to question Sophie. Not now.

Sophie told the helicopter engineer something, but no one else heard it. Then she continued her instructions. "Parker, phone." Sophie requested. It took the blonde a moment to realize what Sophie wanted but she quickly presented it to her. "Thanks. Now, Eliot, Parker," She called the two team members to her. "When we land I'll need a few things." They nodded. "We need fresh clothes for all six of us, we need any of your repelling gear you can find, disposable razors," she had been searching through Parker's phone for something, and had found it because she had was now waiting for them to pick up." We've only got as long it takes to get our intel together. So Hardison?" She turned back to the hacker. "Where are they taking him?"

Hardison had to smile a little. "Boston General."

"The one we took over before?" Sophie asked, tilting the phone away from her mouth. Hardison nodded. "Good. Parker, Eliot, any questions?"

"There's only five of us." Parker asked, or stated she wasn't sure.

Sophie held up a finger. "Hey, how far out are you? …I need you to come back…Nate's been shot, bad…I don't know, before you left." Sophie argued. "Please, I'll owe you…That's my girl, Tara…Nate's, I think it's clear…We'll find out, okay? Oh, do we need anything for—Got it." She's flipped Parker's phone closed and handed it back to Parker. "She'll meet us there."

The helicopter hit the roof hard and stopped. They all piled out and got to work. "Get everything on the list plus a large pair of scissors, and hair dye." Sophie told two collecting supplies. "Just get it, be careful, and bring it back. I'll start on a plan."

When Parker and Eliot returned, Tara was already there. Hardison had a floor plan of the hospital (all levels) displayed on the TV screens. Tara was perched on the arm of the coach and Hardison was sitting on the edge of the cushion both surveying papers of some type, while Sophie was pulled back into a chair. Tara tilted her chin up at the two in greeting as they joined the group.

"Miss us?" Parker asked, dropping the bags on the sofa next to Tara, recognizing her leadership in the plan. "How's this gonna play?"

Sophie gave Parker a look. She had really changed. "We go in, we get Nate, we out. We don't get caught." Sophie saw the terrified looks on the others' faces. "Tara? Fill them in."

Tara started checking the bags Eliot and Parker brought in, only just recognizing the name on the plastic. She would have killed to see Eliot drag Parker through Wal-Mart. They had, none the less, bought everything she'd asked for, even the weird stuff. "Okay, we're running the Wounded Herring: One of us will be admitted with a genuine injury, it's the decoy's job to distract Sterling. Parker, while Sterling's distracted you plant cameras everywhere. Hardison will watch the footage. He will also be finding the best for you, Eliot," she turned to the retrieval specialist. "To retrieve Nate.

"Sophie will be here, ready to fill in for anything we missed, fix any mistakes, and coach us through the tough stuff." She paused, "We've done this type of thing before, we know how. But this time," Tara looked down, her voice dropping. "it's personal."

Tara cleared her throat. "Since you and Sophie will more than likely be in plain sight," Tara looked to Eliot, "Sophie will be cutting her hair. And you…" she threw a box to Eliot. "How do you feel about ginger?"

"Hell no." Eliot growled. "Ain't. Gonna. Happen." He threw the box back at Tara, she managed to catch it, but not happily.

Sophie had been curled into the corner sectional, silent. But she finally spoke. Saying simply and solemnly, "It's for Nate."

Eliot looked between the sorrowful brunette and the blond. "It says temporary, right?" Tara smirked. "Fine."

"Good." Tara nodded, "Hardison, find Nate so I can start—"

Hardison held up a hand. "I'm on it, a man needs time. I can't just hack into hospital records and—Room one-forty-seven." He smiled.

"Okay. I'll be near there, that's intensive. They'll need to treat me for at least eight to twelve hours before the transfer me." She stood, looking back at the map. "That gives you five hours to get Nate. You don't need to worry about me much. I can get out on my own."

The room had been full of agreeing faces up to there. "Wait," Parker objected."You are going in with a real injury?"

Eliot was clearly uncomfortable. "No. We can't do that." He shook his head. "There's gotta be another way."

Tara shook her head. "It's fine. I've done it before. Last time I did it was when Sophie and I ran it. I did a concussion." She was thinking of the last time. "That scar, Eliot? It's from that. I'm not doing that again I need a story…" She looked at the scissors in the bag, picked them up. "Okay, let's get this ready. We've got maybe an hour, then I'll go in and you guys start."

"What are you gonna do?" Parker asked.

Tara smiled, a bittersweet smile. "You are going to try to kill me."

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	2. Wounded Herring

TITLE: Birds of a Feather Flock Together  
TEAM FIC  
SPOILERS FOR UP TO MALTESE FALCON

Chapter Two: Wounded Herring

"What!?! That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard!" Sophie screamed, "You are not doing that! You'll kill yourself, and I am not losing two people I love in one day!"

"Calm down, Sophie." Tara tried. "I know what I'm doing. And all you need to do is get Nate out while I have the cops distracted."

"I gotta tell ya, I'm with Sophie on this." Eliot yelled from the kitchen where his hair was being colored. "Your plan is sounding pretty bad."

"I'm fine!" She finally yelled, getting tired of the skepticism. "As soon as it gets dark I'll need one of you to drop me at the ER. Then you can get to it. And I'm trusting you to do your jobs."

Hardison looked up from his computer to make sure he wasn't imagining how pissed Tara was. He wasn't. "Take my car. Parker will drive you. You sure know what you're doing?"

"Yes, Hardison. Thank you." She sighed. She looked out the window, "We haven't got much time. Parker, go get the plates off the car."

Sophie was pacing back and forth in front of the TV wall. "I don't know if I can do this."

"Well decide now before I go through with anything." Tara replied without allowing Sophie any sympathy.

Sophie looked up at her friend, eyes hard. "You know that I don't support this."

"And you know I'll do it anyway."

Forty-five minutes later Parker was driving towards the hospital, Tara in the backseat. The plans were set. The disguises in place. Everything was ready. All that was left was for Sterling to be distracted. That meant Tara had too— Tara let out a sharp breath as she pushed the closed blades of the scissors into her gut.

"Shit!" Parker swerved a little and glanced back at the now wounded Tara. "Are you..?"

"Drive." Tara commanded through gritted teeth. She had tried not to hit anything too important but, it's a stabbing. You got to make it believable. It still hurt even if she wasn't dying. "Tell me…When." Her breath was shallow from the pain as she felt herself succumb to the white heat. She was starting to wish she'd given herself another concussion. "Speed. Parker."

"Okay, okay." Parker floored it as she entered the ER unloading zone. "Three…Two…Go!" She stopped the car for half a second to let Tara out.

Tara pushed the door open, pulled the scissors out of her flesh and rolled on to the pavement. The ground was wet and cold, it was dark but the glow of the intake light illuminated her body as she flipped herself to the floor. Two EMTs spotted her as she hit ground. She could feel the blood starting to pump from the wound. The nurses were asking her questions and saying things, and she would have held on longer, answered questions, but she had left her ID at home for a reason. She was no one. All she had to identify her was Sterling's card. And she'd have told someone that if she hadn't been getting so cold. In fact, all she could feel was herself getting cold. And then…Dark.

"I'm above his room. Are you ready to start getting feeds?" Parker asked via com. The others knew better than to speculate the status of their fallen brethren, instead they were executing the rest of the plan.

"Yeah, go." Hardison clicked on a few as Parker planted the first camera.

"He looks okay." Sophie whispered when Nate's image appeared. "Okay, find Tara and get the hallways…"

"You do your thing girl." Hardison encouraged.

Parker smirked at Hardison's coolness at the situation and crawled along through the vent.

Meanwhile, Eliot was inside the hospital, putting a drive on the hospital security system so Hardison could pick-up the signal and use their footage as well. Eliot had strict instructions not to look for Sterling or Nate. And he didn't want to make Sophie mad by trying to, it wasn't safe and he didn't need to get caught by looking for trouble.

He was, however, allowed to look for Tara. He wasn't the one to find her. Parker did find her. And when she saw the normally strong, confidant woman laying in a hospital bed with tubes to her arms… Parker almost forgot that Tara was a decoy, and she was going to be okay, and not to worry. Accept the scared sound Parker made had nothing to do with state of her friend and everything to do with who had found Tara first. Who was sitting calmly in the guest chair of Tara's room. "Sterling."

"That's good, Parker." Sophie reminded. "She's our distraction. She's supposed to keep Sterling busy."

"But Nate's got three feds guarding his room, even if we do keep Sterling outta the way—" Hardison pointed out the latest hurdle.

Eliot piped up this time. "I can take those guys."

"Fine. But you'll be quiet about it." Sophie was stern, even in that allowance. "Parker, come home."

"But Tara's still…" Parker protested.

"Tara will be fine." Sophie assured. "Just get out. We can't do anything until Tara starts her run. And that's assuming she does."

Hardison looked up. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"She may not remember what she's supposed to do." Eliot answered for the interim leader.

Parker was the one to voice their fears this time. "Then what?"

Tara's eyes popped open the second she was awake She kept them open, too, despite the harsh fluorescent light that met her. Everything hurt, and yet, she could feel nothing. It was odd. She started to sit up but felt the pain shoot through her gut and fell back to the bed. Her hand went to stomach and she felt dressing like the time she'd been shot. But she didn't recall anyth—

"Well, well, well," Tara heard the familiar, and evil, voice of Jim Sterling. And she remembered everything. The con, the plan, Nate, Sterling, the stabbing….

"It was them!" Tara gasped, her breath stronger than she thought it would be. She managed to sit up, against the pain, and make eye contact with Sterling, the enemy. "They stabbed me."

Sterling smiled lightly. "Oh, now? Whatever happened to 'thick as thieves'?"

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	3. Paper Sparrow

TITLE: Birds of a Feather Flock Together  
TEAM FIC  
SPOILERS FOR UP TO MALTESE FALCON  
No man left behind. Takes place after Maltese Falcon.

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading, reviewing, and setting alerts. I love to know my work is well recieved.

CHAPTER THREE: PAPER SPARROW

"She's talking to him…" Hardison reported. "I think she's got it."

"Is he buying it?" Parker asked, she let the apartment door shut behind her.

"I think so." Sophie watched the image of Tara and Sterling as Hardison expanded it to take up the whole wall space. "Okay, we shoul—"

"Problem." Eliot announced his voice low over the intercom system. "Tara's in room is three over from Nate's."

"Map?" Sophie looked to Hardison who pulled the hospital map back up and pinpointed the two rooms, the elevators, and the exits. "Okay, this is still gonna work." She paced again. "Eliot, there's a storage's closet down the hall to your right, find it and go in. Tell me when you're there."

Parker was toying with something in her lap… A card scanner! Why hadn't Sophie thought to do that in the first place? "I got two all access codes plus a good picture of the badges." She tossed it to Hardison. "Can you do anything with it?"

He waited for the files to load. "Oh, I can do everything with it." He started typing.

"Parker, thank you, I don't know how I overlooked that." Sophie hugged Parker close, but only briefly. "How long—"

Hardison held up a held, the other still typing. She decided to leave him alone, besides, it was at that moment that she was reminded of Eliot's presences.

"I'm here. What do you need?"

"Scrubs. And anything else you think looks useful." She glanced back at Tara's room in the corner of the screen. "And Eliot? Hurry back."

"I wasn't one of them!" Tara told Sterling. "I was just helping. And I guess they didn't need me anymore because…" She started to cry a little.

He scratched the back of his neck, deciding whether or not believe her. She did have a knife wound. "So, where were they going?"

Tara shook her head, dissolving into tears. Then she sniffed, rubbed her eyes, and in a seamless transition, glared at the Interpol agent. "I don't trust you."

"What?" Sterling almost laughed, taken aback. "Why not?"

"Why should I? I was an attorney at one point, look me up." She tried to sound like she was trying to sound strong. "I'll tell what I know, but I want other cops in here."

Sterling's eyes narrowed. "Fine. I'll see what I can do."

As soon Sterling left the room Tara turn to the vent and waved, mouthing "GO!"

The team moved fast. Parker went first, she had to lift a drug. Eliot would follow and meet her before they went to get Nate. Then it was a lot of luck and hoping nothing slowed them down.

Parker had no trouble getting the morislatin from a drug cart, and no problem getting to Nate's room. She was just worried someone would recognize her. And walking through the front door wasn't the way she did things. Eliot was on his way up, he would meet her in the janitor's closet across from the hospital room. Awhen they got the okay from Hardison to go into Nate's room they wasted no time. As soon as they got in the thieves, decked in scrubs, woke their boss.

"Nate," Eliot whispered. "Nate!"

"Wha..?" He was groggy. "What are you two..?"

"We're saving you." Parker offered.

Eliot stepped in with an explanation. "We're gonna give you a shot, it'll help us get you out, then you'll stay calm. Once we get to the elevator you should be okay. But the goal is to get to the van."

"Sterling?" Nate croaked.

Parker smiled as she slipped the drud into Nate's IV. "Taken care of."

_Meanwhile…_

Tara started folding a piece of paper as she spoke. "They didn't trust when I first started with them and it was only temporary." She sighed. "I want to be clear that I didn't realize they were criminals when I agreed to work for them."

Sterling rolled his. "Sure, you just thought they were good thieves, who never broke laws."

Tara glared. "I did. I thought we were helping people." She went back to folding the paper.

"What do know?" One of the FBI agents asked.

Tara smiled,, not looking up. "I know they haven't left the city." She looked up and counted the cops. They were all there. "They're still together."

The agents waited for her to continue. She didn't. "Where are they?"

"Right now?" Tara asked holding up the folded paper up to check for symmetry.

Sterling was loosing patience. "Yes, now."

"I don't know," Tara smiled.

A loud clink echoed through the room as a marble hit the metal vent, the sound breaking the silence.

"What I do know," Tara tossed the paper like a plane as it was now folded into a sparrow. The little bird soared around the still room in a circle and out the door. "I know that your bird has flown the coop."

Nate was out. The monitor beeped erratically. Nurses rushed in. Eliot was able to insist he could take Nate opt the OR alone. Parker followed his lead. The whole time Sophie was sitting in the van watching the monitors. Nate was dying, they wanting everyone to think that so he could slip out. At the same time, Tara was in a room of federal agents with her ribs bandaged. This was all in the plan. But that didn't make Sophie any more comfortable with what was happening beyond her control. Even when she saw Eliot push Nate out of the hospital on that stretcher, she was sure something would go wrong.

And it did. But not until after the team got Nate home safe and sound. Not until after they looked back at Tara in the hospital.

A/N: The drug is fake. PLEASE REVIEW. I don't have any other chaps written yet, please be patient, they took my GirlScout cookies, I'm low on fuel.

Again, Please review.


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